Work order management system

Abstract

An on-line work order management system for accommodating a plurality of medium and small companies called vendors and customers and which is accessible by any web browser. The system includes a central database controlled by the system operator and is accessible by logging on with a customer or vendor ID. The system allows customers to create work orders for the vendors and allows the vendors access to the work orders to schedule work based thereon and to review all previously submitted work.

1 . An on-line work order management system for accommodating a plurality of medium and small companies known as vendors and customers which is accessible from any web browser, said system comprising 
 a central database controlled by the system operator,    means by which customers can access the database by logging on with a proper ID,    means permitting said customers to create work orders for said vendors on said system and    means allowing said vendors to access said work orders and schedule work based thereon as well as notifying said customers of any changes in said work orders such as estimated completion dates and or equipment or material changes:    
     
     
         2 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 1  and in which said means for allowing customers to create work orders to said vendors further allows said customers to review all previously submitted work orders to any given vendor and to update customer information for the benefit of the vendor  
     
     
         3 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 1  and in which said system allows said customers to indicate the nature of the work order, whether normal or emergency or some other category and to make changes to said work order over time.  
     
     
         4 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 1  and in which the vendor can run reports on certain aspects of the work order.  
     
     
         5 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 4  wherein said report is a resource allocation by employee by date report.  
     
     
         6 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 4  wherein said report is an employee assigned by hours by date report.  
     
     
         7 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 4  wherein said report is the number of customer work orders by date report.  
     
     
         8 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 4  wherein said report is a work order dump report  
     
     
         9 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 1  wherein said means allowing the vendors to access the database to schedule work thereon allows them to create work orders.  
     
     
         10 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are able to access both open orders and closed orders.  
     
     
         11 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are are allowed to schedule equipment in conjunction with each work order.  
     
     
         12 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are able to schedule the priority of the customer work orders and to establish completion dates.  
     
     
         13 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are able to conduct a text search of all customer orders using a key word.  
     
     
         14 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are able to allocate either or both in-house or contract labor to a work order.  
     
     
         15 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are able to assign certain of its employees to access selected portions of the customer records regarding work orders and customer profiles.  
     
     
         16 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are provided with a record of customer payments on work orders, can edit the records, and review both payment and work order details.  
     
     
         17 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 9  wherein said vendors are able to review equipment available for each work order and schedule said equipment for said work order.  
     
     
         18 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 17  wherein said vendors are able to schedule preventive maintenance on said equipment.  
     
     
         19 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 18  wherein said vendors are able to modify said preventive maintenance schedule on said equipment.  
     
     
         20 . An on-line work order management system as in  claim 17  wherein said vendors are able to both add equipment to said work orders and to modify the equipment assigned to the work orders.  
     
     
         21 . An on-line private work order management system for provision of application service program, said system allowing users, both vendors and customers, to have a work order management system without their own IT organization, said system comprising 
 a web based database controlled by the system owner,    vendor access means by which vendors can create work orders for their customers who may order from more than one vendor on the system    customer access means by which customers can submit their own work orders,    whereby said system allows for both vendor and customer access and review by either as to the status of said work orders.    
     
     
         22 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein customer access means allows for said customers to update information about itself on said database.  
     
     
         23 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said customer access means allows customers to create their own work orders and while doing so to review equipment of the vendor available for use with their work order.  
     
     
         24 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said customer access means allows the customer to be notified of action taken by the vendor in regard to it's work order.  
     
     
         25 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said customer access means allows the customer to indicate whether the work order created is a normal or emergency work order.  
     
     
         26 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said customer access means allows the customer's employees to review all previous work orders with a a particular vendor on the system.  
     
     
         27 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said customer access means allows the customer to place work orders with any number of vendors on the system.  
     
     
         28 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said customers are notified automatically by an e-mail whenever there has been a change in status of their work order or orders on the system.  
     
     
         29 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said vendor access means allows vendors to set up customer accounts and modify them.  
     
     
         30 . An online private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said vendor access means allows said vendors to assign its employees selective access to selected portions of said system for working with those areas within their job description.  
     
     
         31 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  wherein said vendor access allows the vendors to display a record of customer payments on any one or several work orders that customer has with the vendor.  
     
     
         32 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to create customer work orders on behalf of the customer and to review said work orders over time.  
     
     
         33 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to run reports on one or more customer work orders or on resource allocations, employees assigned to the work order by hours and dates, or work orders by date.  
     
     
         34 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to review the equipment used on work orders, to schedule said equipment according to work order and to schedule the maintenance of said equipment on a regular basis.  
     
     
         35 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to review all customer payments, to add comments, to review payment detail and work order details.  
     
     
         36 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendors to create vendor employee accounts each with a separate ID or password.  
     
     
         37 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to modify information concerning itself on the database so as to change what is viewable by its customers.  
     
     
         38 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to run an invoice history from the system operator.  
     
     
         39 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 1  which allows the vendor to to access and review late payment information by its customers.  
     
     
         40 . An on-line private work order system as in  claim 39  which allows the customer to update its customer profile on said system.